Dour, granite ... disproportionate role across the globe ...

From the start of quarrying the rich, red granite hill in the centre of Montello, Wisconsin in 1881, Scottish workers played a large role. The first granite quarry company sent for 125 “marble workers” and polishers from Scotland. Names like Andrew Rae, Robert Harper, and John Robertson, all Scots arriving in the early 1880s, helped make the famous Montello granite internationally known and highly valued. Monuments around the US are made of this granite including General Ulysses S. Grant’s sarcophagus and a monument at the Custer National Cemetery.